Short Questions
Introductory lines
What season is described in the opening passage of The Canterbury Tales?
Where especially do English people want to go? Why do they want to go there?
How many pilgrims does the narrator claim he meets at the Tabard inn?
THE KNIGHT
What are five basic qualities/traits of the Knight?
What are some of the places where the Knight has fought?
What is the Knight's conversation and speech like, according to the narrator?
What is the Knight's armor (his habergeon) like in appearance? Why do you suppose it look
like this?
What pilgrim is the son of this Knight?
THE SQUIRE
How does the Squire's appearance contrast with that of the Knight?
How old is the Squire? What talents does he have and how do they contrast with the Knight?
Why does the Squire sleep so little?
THE PRIORESS
What's a prioress?
What is the name of the particular prioress who joins the pilgrimage company?
What foreign language does the Prioress speak?
Where (according to her accent) did she learn to speak French?
What is the Prioress's attitude toward animals?
What does her golden brooch have written on it?
THE MONK
What noise do people hear as the Monk rides past them?
What is the Monk's attitude toward the Benedictine Rule or the Mauritian Rule ?
What does the Monk think of the argument that holy men shouldn't hunt animals?
What does the Monk think of Saint Augustine's Rule, which requires that monastic clergy
work with their hands at manual labor?
THE FRIAR
What is the Friar's name?
What sort of absolution does the Friar grant to sinners?
What locations does the Friar know especially well in every town? What sort of people does
he know very well?
Why does Friar have knives and hairpins?
Which two characteristics make Friar unmatched to other mendicants?
Why does he lisp?
THE MERCHANT
What sort of hat does the Merchant wear?
What sort of subject does the Merchant always talk about?
THE FRANKLIN
What does it mean when the text reads the Franklin "was Epicurus' very son"? Who was
Epicurus and what is Epicurean philosophy?
To what saint is the Franklin compared explicitly? Why is this an appropriate comparison?
THE WIFE OF BATH
What physical disability does the Wife of Bath have?
What special skill does The wife of Bath have?
What does the Wife of Bath wear on her head? How much does this weigh?
How many husbands has she had in church?
What does the Wife wear on her feet/boots to help steer her horse?
THE PARSON
What does the Parson do first before he teaches his flock?
When the Parson asks allegorically, "if gold rust, what shall poor iron do?" what is he talking
about? Who or what is the gold and who or what is the iron?
When the narrator speaks about a "shitty shepherd, shepherding clean sheep," what is he
talking about?
Why does the Parson refuse promotion to London or Saint Paul's Cathedral?
THE SUMMONER
What is a summoner?
What skin problems does Chaucer's Summoner have?
Why does the narrator think the Summoner is a generous, friendly fellow? (i.e., For what
trade would the Summoner let a person off easily when that person was summoned to court?)
How had the Summoner gained power over all the boys and girls of the diocese?
